Loss in Portland was a bait and switch

MEMPHIS, Tenn. — In the silent aftermath of the Spurs’ 98-96 defeat in Portland on Friday night, a collection of players gathered around a laptop in the corner of the visitors locker room at the Rose Garden, reliving the final moments of their nightmare.

What they saw was a perfect play call from Portland coach Nate McMillan perfectly executed, with Nicolas Batum dropping in a beautifully thrown lob pass from Andre Miller for the winning points as the horn sounded.

“Just a great play for Portland,” said Tony Parker, one of the players watching himself on the small screen.

As with everything else that went right for the Trail Blazers down the stretch, they got help from the Spurs.

In defending the final play, the Spurs planned to switch on every screen, a common practice at the end of NBA games. In the end, the trouble came down to each players’ interpretation of the word “screen.”

At the start of the play, Batum — Manu Ginobili’s man — moved up the lane as if to set a pick for Brandon Roy, guarded by Parker. As Ginobili aggressively switched to deny Roy a potential inbounds pass, Batum stopped short of the foul line and pivoted backdoor toward the basket.

“Brandon was a decoy in that situation,” McMillan said.

Parker was a step late recovering onto Batum, a split-second indecision that created enough space for the high-flying Portland forward to break free and receive a 50-foot rainbow from Miller.

“We said we were going to switch everything, but there was not really a pick,” Parker said. “You can say ‘if’ until the end of the world. It was just a great play for Portland.”

Spurs coach Gregg Popovich agreed but refused to publicly assign blame for the late-second gaffe, or the variety of other miscues that led up to it.

“Lots of things happen that help you win or lose a game,” Popovich said.

STATISTICAL ANOMALY: Before Friday, the Spurs had not lost a game this season when outshooting an opponent.

Portland shot 46.5 percent (40 of 86) to the Spurs’ 51.3 (39 of 76). The Spurs had been 47-0 when besting the other team’s shooting percentage.

ROLE MODEL: Before he got to the NBA, Spurs forward DeJuan Blair never paid much attention to bruising Memphis power forward Zach Randolph. Since joining the league, however, Blair has become one of Randolph’s biggest fans.

“He’s definitely a role model that I look up to,” said Blair, who will face Randolph tonight when the Spurs visit FedEx Forum. “He’s a double-double, every night type of guy. He’s the perfect guy to look up to.”

Even the 21-year-old Blair admits he has a long way to go to match the exploits of a rejuvenated “Z-Bo.”

After earning his first All-Star nod last season, Randolph is flirting with All-NBA honors this season, having posted 68 double-doubles, fourth in the league, and averaging 19.9 points and 12.4 rebounds. The 6-foot-9 bruiser has saved some of his best work for the Spurs, averaging 23 points and 16 boards against them this season.